Tracing-machine.



No. 745,424. PATENTED DEC. 1, 1903. G. H. DAVIS. TRAUING MACHINE.APPLICATION FILED JAN. s, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

jaw/afar wk Jazz UNITED STATES Patented December 1, 1903.

PATENT tries.

TRAGlNG-MAOHENE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,424, dated December1, 1903.

Application filed January 3,1908. Serial No. 187,686. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1', GEORGE HowLnTT DAVIS, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Llewellyn ParkflVest Oran ge,in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in lracing-l\iachines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

My present invention relates to an improved apparatus designedprincipally to facilitate the marking or tracing of expression-lines onperforated music-sheets employed in connection with self-playing musicalinstruments, although it may be employed and willbe found useful inother fields of work where it is de sired to make tracings of subjectscontained on long pattern-sheets.

As is well-known in the art, perforated music-sheets for controlling theoperation of the sound-producing devices in self-playing musicalinstruments are usually provided on one face with a zigzag line ordotted line,which line indicates to the operator or performer whatparticular expression devices are to be actuated at a particular time toobtain varied musical effects in playing; and it is the object of thisinvention to provide a simple and easily operated apparatus tofacilitate the copying or tracing of such zigzag expressionlines upon aperforated music-sheet, the said copy or tracing being lJZLkGllflOlllwhat is usually termed a master-sheet that is, a sheet upon which thezigzag expression-line has been previously laid out in an accuratemanner. Heretofore and prior to my present invention it has been theusual custom in marking these expression-lines on music-sheets to firstprovide a sheet with a perforated zigzag line, termed a stencil, suchstencil being,of course,as long as the perforated music-sheet to bemarked. The music-sheet is then laid full length upon a long table withthe perforated stencil superposed thereon, and a hand-operated inking orimpression roller is then run over the zigzag line of perforations inthe stencil, which results in imprinting upon the tedious, requiring theuse of long tables in carrying out the printing operation, but itnecessitates, in the first instance, the making of the stencil-sheet,which is made by punching out the line of perforations singly by ahand-punch,whieh operationis slow,tedious, and costly. By my presentinvention 1 do away entirely with a perforated stencil-sheet, which atonce reduces the first cost in the marking of these music-sheets,and,secondly, I am able to dispense with the use of the long tables uponwhich theprintin g is done according to the old method.

Briefly and generally stated, my invention comprises a transparent plateor surface, means, such as delivery-spools, for supporting amaster-sheet and a music-sheet at one end of said transparentplate,means,such as takeup rolls, at the other end of said plate uponwhich said sheets may be wound, and means for simultaneously rotatingsaid spools and rolls, so as to enable the sheets to be moved togetherin either direction.

The invention comprises other novel fea tures in the construction of theapparatus, which will be hereinafter described and then more definitelypointed out in the claims following the detailed description.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus described.Fig. 2 is a top plan view, and Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view, of oneof the yielding sockets forthe music-sheet spools.

Referring now to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates abase, having at each end thereof on opposite sides brackets 2 2 3 3,said brackets being of any preferred construction. Supported upon thesebrackets is a frame 4, preferably made of wood and having its oppositeends beveled, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The. said frame atcarries a transparent plate or surface 5, preferably of glass, althoughother transparent material may be employed, and below the saidtransparent plate or surface I prefer to arrange one or more lamps 6,electric lamps being shown in the present instance, although it will beobvious that any suitable form of lighting device may be employed.Hinged to the top of the frame f, at one side thereof, are

two rods or supports 7, which rods extend across the face of thetransparent plate 5, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.The purpose of these rods 7 will be hereinafter more particularlyexplained.

Journaled in the brackets 2 are shafts 8, upon which are rotatablymounted rolls or sleeves S 8, each of which is provided with a hook 9,to which may be attached one end of the master-sheet and music-sheet,respectively. The rolls or sleeves S and 8" are rotatably mounted uponthe shafts 8 for a purpose presently to appear and may be secured tosaid shafts, so as to rotate therewith by means of set-screws 8". Uponone end of each of the shafts Sis a gear-wheel 12, which gear-wheels arein mesh with an intermediate gear 18, mounted upon a stub-shaft 1%,projecting from one side of one of the brackets 2. One of thegear-wheels 12 is provided with a handle 15, as shown, and theconstruction is such that upon turning the handle 15 said gear-wheels 12will be rotated in unison to wind the master and music sheets upon therolls.

One of the brackets 3 at the opposite end of the machine is providedwith two socketpieces 17, and the other bracket is provided with rotarybearings 18, in each of which is rotatably mounted a yieldablesocket-pin 19, said pin being normally forced outward by means of aspring 20, said outward movement being limited by means of a screw 21,abutting against a shoulder 22 on the said socket-pin, all as moreclearly shown in Fig. 3. The said socket-pieces 17 and socket-pins 19are constructed to removably receive a flanged journal-pin on the spools23, upon which are mounted, respectively, the master-sheet and the sheetto be marked or traced. 011 the outer end of each rotary bearing 18 isfixed a gear-wheel 24, which gear-wheels mesh with an intermediate gear25, mounted upon a stub-sh aft 26. One of the gears 24. is provided witha handle 27, by means of which both of the gears 24 may be rotated inunison.

In operation the spool 23, containing the master-sheet 28, is placed inits bearings, and one end is drawn over the transparent plate or surface5 and secured to the hook 9 on the roll 8. In a like manner theperforated music-sheet 29, upon which the zigzag line is to be traced,is mounted in its bearings and the forward end drawn over themaster-sheet 28 and transparent plate 5 and secured to the hook 9 on theroll 8. The rods or sup ports 7 are then moved over flat upon themusic-sheet and master-sheet and serve to hold the same smoothly uponthe transparent plate 5. A straight edge or ruler 30 is then placed uponthe rod 7, which serves to support the same out of surface contact withthe music-sheet to be marked or traced. Any suitable marking device maybe employed in connection with the apparatus. Then the music-sheet andmaster-sheet are in place, as above indicated, it will be apparent thatthe zigzag line, or, in fact, any line or mark upon the master-sheet,can be seen through the musicsheet and an absolutely correct tracing orcopy made thereof on the music-sheet. As the lines or marks are tracedthe two sheets are-moved simultaneously, or, in other words, are woundupon the rollers S and 8 by simply rotating the gears 12 through themedium of the handle 15. This operation continues until the tracingoperation is complete, which will leave both the master-sheet and themusic-sheet upon the rolls 8 and 8*. In order to rewind the sheets uponthe spools 23, it is simply necessary to rotate the gear 24; in areverse direction through the medium of the handle 27. lVhen the sheetsare ontirely rolled upon the spools, the spool containing themusic-sheet may be removed and a new one substituted therefor and theoperation repeated.

\Vhile I have shown and described the transparent plate 5 as beingmounted in a horizontal position above the lamps (3, it will be obviousthat I may mount the transparent plate on an incline and dispenseentirely with the lamps, the particular manner in which the transparentplate 5 is mounted not being an essential feature of the invention.

It is important that the rolls or sleeves S and S be rotatably mountedupon the shafts 8, so that more or less of the music-sheet or themaster-sheet, as the case may be, may be taken up at the commencement ofthe tracing operation in order to bring the perforations of the twosheets in. true and accurate register, and thus cause the zigzag line tobe traced at the proper points along the sheet relatively to themusic-perforations.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a machine of theclass described, a flat transparent surface over which may be moved amaster sheet and a sheet to be marked, means for holding said sheets inflat contact upon said surface, and means for simultaneously moving saidsheets over said transparent surface.

2. In a machine of the class described, a transparent surface over whichmay be moved a master -sheet and a sheet to be marked, take-up rolls forsaid sheets, and means for simultaneously rotating said rolls at auniform speed to cause the sheets to move together.

3. In a machine of the class described, a transparent surface over-whicha master-sheet and a sheet to be marked maybe moved, sepa rate deliveryand take-up rolls for said sheets, andmeans for rotating said rolls at auniform speed.

4:. In a machine of the class described, a transparentsurface over whicha master-sheet and a sheet to be marked may be moved, separate deliveryand take-up rolls for said sheets, and means for simultaneously rotatingsaid rolls at a uniform speed.

5. In a machine of the class described, the

combination with a transparent surface, of a pair of delivery-rollsreinovably mounted in bearings at one end of said surface, andintermediate gearing between said rolls to cause the latter to rotatetogether at a uniform speed.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination with atransparent surface, of a pair of fixed and a pair of rotarysocket-bearings arranged at one end of said surface, and means forsimultaneously rotating said rotary bearings at a uniform speed.

7 In a machine of the character described, the combination with atransparent surface, of a pair of fixed and a pair of rotary socketbearings arranged at one end of said transparent surface and a train ofintermeshing gears connecting said rotary socket-bearings to cause thelatter to rotate at a uniform speed.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination with atransparent surface, of a pair of rotary shafts j ournaled in bearingsat one end of saidsurface, a roll mounted upon each shaft, one of saidrolls being rotatably adjustable relativeto the other roll, a hookcarried by each roll, and means for securing said adjustable roll to itsshaft in any of its positions of adjustment.

9. In amachine of the character described, the combination with atransparent surface, of a pair of rotary shafts journaled in bearings atone end of said surface, a roll rotatably adjustable upon each of saidshafts,means for securing each roll to its shaft, and means for causingthe said shafts to rotate together at a uniform speed.

10. I11 a machine of the characterdescribed, the combination with atransparent surface unobstructed from. above, of a pair of independentlyrotatable rolls located at one end of said surface, means for securingeach roll in its adjusted position relative to the other roll, meanscarried byeach roll for attaching thereto one end of a sheet, andintermediate gearing between said rolls for simultaneously rotating themat a uniform speed.

11. In a machine of the class described, the combination with atransparent surface, of a pair of rotary shafts journaled in bearings atone end of said surface, a roll rotatably adjustable upon each shaft,means for simultaneously rotating said shafts at a uniform speed, andsocket-bearings at the other end of said transparent surface adapted toreceive spools.

12. In a machine of the class described, a transparent surface overwhich a master-sheet and a sheet to be marked may be moved, hingedsupporting-rods adapted to rest upon said surface, and delivery andtake-up rolls for the sheets mounted respectively at opposite ends ofsaid transparent surface.

13. In a machine of the class described, a transparentsurface over whicha master-sheet and a sheet to be marked maybe moved, supporting-rodshinged to said transparent surface and adapted to be brought to restupon said sheets, a pair of rolls at each end of said transparentsurface, upon which said sheets may be wound and unwound, and means forsinmltaneously rotating each pair of rolls.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

G. HOIVLETT DAVIS.

W'itnesses:

II. B. SEYMOUR, HOWARD L. Lown.

